Search

In March 2009, Roberto Martinez-Medina was detained and arrested for not having a driver’s license or proof of legal status. Immediately after his arrest, Medina was sent to CCA’s (Corrections Corporation of America) Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. Less than a month later Roberto Martinez-Medina was dead.

During his detainment at Stewart Detention Center–the largest private prison in the country–Medina complained of a pre-existing heart ailment, but was denied medical care over several shifts. There is no medical service available at the detention center, and the nearest hospital is at least an hour away. The main reason for this lack of basic care: CCA had cut medical care costs and other basic needs to increase their quarterly and yearly profit.

Bryan Holcomb, an ex-CCA quality assurance manager, spoke exclusively to Cuéntame’s “Immigrant For Sale” producers to expose the negligent operations at Stewart Detention Center. Holcomb assures that this malpractice is common at the facility due to ongoing cuts to basic services. From contaminated drinking water, to chemical agents being used to quell detainee complaints, Holcomb says CCA has gone to great lengths to cover up its insufficient care and mistreatment of detainees.

Cuéntame’s latest exposé highlights precisely what is wrong with America’s penitentiary system and immigrant detention centers. The continued persecution of undocumented immigrants has created a multi-billion dollar operation–private prisons with a single profit motive: the incarceration of immigrants.

States send your tax dollars to these corporations–approximately $200 a night per detained immigrant. Yet, the funding is not ensuring basic necessities for migrants waiting for their legal status to be resolved. Instead, your money is lining the pockets of CEOs and fat cats who view our immigration system as one big ATM machine. It is no surprise that these same individuals and companies have successfully lobbied for the passage of harsh anti-immigration laws across the country.

In fact, Georgia–the home of the nation’s largest private prison–just passed HB87, a de facto criminalization of immigration. Gov. Nathan Deal, who advocated and signed the bill, received thousands in campaign contributions from CCA during the last election cycle. Undocumented or not, if migrants can’t prove their legal status they’ll be shipped off and face harsh, life-threatening conditions, all while private prison CEOs rake in the cash.

CCA profited off of Medina’s incarceration, and ensured an even greater profit by denying him critical health care. The inhumane conditions at CCA facilities are directly related to their obsession in cutting costs for profit.

Lorde is the majestic teacher I never had in real life but who is still the source of much of my own personal and political growth — and who somehow speaks to me during my highs and lows week after week. Here are a few of her essays available online. Enjoy your Sunday with them.

In other things good for the soul, “Black Panther,” Marvel’s first film directed by a black American, came out on Friday crushing box office records. I won’t see it until tonight (and feel like a total fraud for waiting a whole two days) but I am living for the joyous videos coming out of excited audiences across ...

Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) admitted to Vice that they had scrapped plans for a dedicated transgender unit in a Texas private detention center that opened shortly after Trump’s inauguration. ICE’s announcement forces activists into an impossible bind: choose between the fight for safer detention conditions for trans women now or fight against the inhumane system of detention altogether.

The ICE spokesperson said that the change of plans was “due to an increased demand for detention bed space.” That’s one hell of a euphemism for the ramp-up of Trump’s deportation machine and

Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) admitted to Vice that they had scrapped plans for a dedicated transgender unit in a Texas private detention ...

After months of doing everything in its power to prevent several undocumented women from accessing abortion, news has broken that Trump’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) discussed “reversing” a young woman’s abortion using a procedure unsupported by science. The driving force behind the administration’s torture of traumatized young refugees seeking necessary reproductive care? Scott Lloyd, ORR director.

Lloyd oversees detained unaccompanied minors, yet has no experience in refugee resettlement and has a long history of promoting anti-woman rhetoric. He is clearly in this position because his anti-immigrant and anti-abortion agenda aligns with Trump.

Abortion “reversal” is not supported by science or the medical community. Anti-abortion extremists’ “reversal” procedure involves injecting the hormone progesterone into the pregnant person ...

After months of doing everything in its power to prevent several undocumented women from accessing abortion, news has broken that Trump’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) discussed “reversing” a young woman’s abortion using a procedure ...

Search

We need your help!

Get Our Newsletter

New posts and Feministing news delivered to your inbox weekly!

Want to write for us?

All Feministing posts are written by the site’s collective of regular columnists and editors. Though we don’t currently accept guest submissions, we have an open platform Community site to which anyone can contribute. We often promote our favorite Community posts on the main site. And Community bloggers who consistently impress us may to be invited to become regular Feministing columnists..